Oregon Public Broadcasting

Oregon’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate dropped half a percentage point in September: to 11.5 percent.  That’s good news for a state that’s seen rates in the 12 percent range for the last few months.

But as Kristian Foden-Vencil reports, a number of factors contributed to that drop. An increasing number of Oregonians no longer consider themselves "unemployed," but that doesn't mean businesses are hiring.

At a state employment office in Tualatin, dozens of people tap away on computers looking for work. Stephen Woolaway used to solder wires and circuit boards for an Oregon company that made medical devices.

Stephen Woolaway: “I‘ve been unemployed for about a year and looking around. But itlooks like things are picking up a bit.”

Kristian Foden-Vencil: “Why do you say that? What are you seeing?”

Stephen Woolaway: “Well my i Match skills, there are a lot more job opportunities showing up than there used to be.”

A quick look on a state web page that lists jobs shows there are openings-- 1600 for office workers, 900 for food preparers, 800 in sales and another 800 in farming fishing and forestry.

But as encouraging as those figures are, state officials say that there are other reasons the unemployment rate dropped a half a percentage point last month.

It wasn’t because lots of people got hired. State employment economist, Art Ayre, says it could be because people are going back to school; they’ve given up looking for work; or perhaps because they’re older, the stock market has improved and they no longer feel the need to work.

Art Ayre: “It’s a mixed picture. A drop in the unemployment rate, that is generally good news, but it’s mixed with the loss of jobs.”

Those job losses happened in four major sectors: government; trade and transportation; leisure; and education and health services. They all lost more than 1000 positions.

On the bright side, two other major sectors, professionalservices and construction, posted gains of more than 1000 positions.

Oregon remains tied with California for the fourth highest unemployment rate in the nation.